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—
Fire
large in seven blocks of the Wang Fuk Court apartment building, Tai Po,
Hong Kong
, which has killed around 128 people so far still leaves many questions.
Although investigations into the cause of the fire are still ongoing, many experts and speculation have emerged that the most devastating fire in Hong Kong in decades was sparked by a lit cigarette butt.
This tragedy occurred on Wednesday (26/11) afternoon at around 15.00 local time.Police stated that when the fire broke out, the apartment complex was still undergoing extensive renovations so it was covered with netting and bamboo scaffolding.
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The net is used to prevent construction materials from falling from the scaffolding made of bamboo.
Police suspect that this net was the cause of the fire spreading quickly.This is known from the videos of the fire circulating.
Even so, the origin of the fire that burned the net is still unknown.Netizens on social media speculated that the fire may have been caused by cigarette butts.
This allegation was widely believed after a video showed smokers before the unfortunate tragedy occurred.One of the clips was uploaded by Russia Today (RT) with the caption “Shocking Footage Shows Workers Smoking Near Outer Wall Just Moments Before Blaze Engulfed Wang Fu Court In Hong Kong”.
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In the 18 second video, two workers can be seen smoking right next to bamboo scaffolding and green netting.
There has been no statement from authorities regarding the official cause of the fire.
Reporting from
South China Morning Post (
SCMP
)
, 45-year-old retail worker, Kenny Tam, said many local residents had complained about the renovation process at the apartment.The reason is, craftsmen are often caught smoking while working.
“There are also those who claim to have found workers smoking. Complaints like this have been going on for half a year,” he said.
Kwong Pui-lun, former chairman of the Wang Fuk Court Owners Company and resident of Wang Tao House in the housing complex, reported a similar problem.
“I always see construction workers smoking, and they throw cigarette butts everywhere,” said Kwong, expressing concern that the problem could be the start of fires.
A spokesperson for the fire division at the Hong Kong Institution of Engineers, Gary Au Gar-hoe, explained that bamboo scaffolding can still catch fire even though there is a layer of fire retardant on the net.Moreover, there was heat radiating from the burning flames.
This situation could cause buildings around the fire to catch fire.
“If a large fire spreads to other buildings, where there are flammable materials such as newspapers, wood and paint, it is clear that the level of fire that we are seeing now will occur,” said Au.
The scale of the fire in Tai Po is known to have risen rapidly from level 1 at around 15.00 to level 5 at 18.22 in the afternoon.
Au agrees that the scale of this fire shows that there are serious problems in one or several areas, including the materials used in construction, safety management during construction, and the level of awareness among workers.
“Apart from the scaffolding, there are also materials inside such as newspapers and other flammable materials. Once these items catch fire, the whole fire will grow,” said Au.
“When the fire spreads upwards and burns the nets, the fire will spread to residential units,” he added.
In Hong Kong, nets are commonly used to keep construction materials and other objects from falling from bamboo scaffolding.This safety net is usually made of fiber and plastic.
The net material should not be flammable.Contractors in Hong Kong must have a certificate to ensure this.
However, according to Au, nets can still catch fire if the fire is strong enough, regardless of the presence of a chemical coating as a fire retardant.
“The scaffolding is fireproof, but that doesn’t mean it’s not flammable,” Au said.
Au also considered the wind that day, which he said played a role in the scale of the fire.Because the wind blew burning debris into the surrounding buildings.
Images and footage from the scene showed burning debris falling onto the street from the upper floors of the burning building.Some of these burning objects were also blown onto bamboo scaffolding in blocks around Wang Fuk Court.
So far, the Hong Kong government has detained and named 11 people as suspects for alleged murder.
(blq/rds)
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